This invention relates to cigarette cartons having tuck-in flaps and which are compatible with commercially available cigarette carton processing equipment, so that modifications to such equipment are not required. More particularly, this invention relates to the design of tuck-in flaps on cigarette cartons such that the cartons may be passed through commercially available tax-stamping equipment without modifying the tax-stamping equipment.
Cigarette packs (which usually contain twenty cigarettes) are generally rectangular in shape, having front and back long walls connected by two short side walls. Cigarette cartons typically contain two rows of five cigarette packs per row (each row arranged so that the front long walls of the packs are in the same plane and the back long walls are in a parallel plane spaced from the front long walls, and the side walls abut one another), and are generally known in the art as ten-pack cartons. Typically, such cartons have lap flaps, i.e., an extension panel from each long wall of the carton (the wall parallel to the long walls of the packs contained in the carton). One flap is usually longer than the other. The longer flap extends the entire distance between the long walls, and the shorter flap need be of sufficient length for the long flap to be adequately secured to it to close the carton. After the cartons are filled with cigarette packs by the manufacturer, the lap flaps are overlapped (with the shorter flap positioned below the long lap flap, adjacent the packs) and releasably secured to one another to temporarily close the carton. The cartons then are shipped to various distributors. The distributors generally open the cartons to apply the tax stamp that may be required by the jurisdiction in which they operate to the ends of individual cigarette packs while the packs are still inside the cartons. Such procedures are commonly automated, to reduce time, cost, and labor, through the use of specially designed machines for applying tax stamps. Tax-stamping machines have been developed to open the cartons, apply the stamps, and finally seal the cartons for distribution. Such machines are generally commercially available, and are well known in the art. These machines have been developed for ten-pack cartons, i.e., cartons containing two rows of five cigarette packs per row, which have lap flaps such as described above. A typical tax-stamping machine is model FUSON manufactured by Meyercord of 365 East North Avenue, Carol Stream, Ill. 60187.
To assist in opening the cigarette cartons when in the tax-stamping machine, a set of pinch roller squeeze the long walls of the cartons so that the top flaps bow upward. A curved plow then is inserted between the flaps and the packs in the carton to separate the flaps. Hold-down guides are provided downstream of the leading edge of the plow to hold the flaps down adjacent the long walls of the cartons so that the packs inside the cartons are fully exposed and a tax-stamper may apply the required tax stamp to the ends of the packs. Because one lap flap is commonly shorter than the other lap flap, one hold-down guide is positioned higher than the other to accommodate the shorter flap. If a flap which is longer than the short flap is provided on the side of the carton engaging the higher positioned hold-down guide, the longer portion of the flap tends to be snagged by the hold-down guide and consequently deformed or even torn. Such snagging typically causes the machine to jam, causing back-up in production and additional labor costs for repairs. Deformation or tearing also would negatively affect marketability of the carton, if the carton is at all salvageable.
Such snagging may be prevented by modifying the hold-down guide, but such modification slows down the tax-stamping process and requires additional, time-consuming and consequently expensive steps. Therefore, it is usually economically prohibitive to provide cartons having flaps longer than the common length of the short flap.
Nonetheless, when joining single row cartons such as described in above-mentioned United States patent application Ser. No. 07/774,529, flaps longer than the common length of the short flap may be desirable over flaps of standard dimensions, such as lap flaps, for reasons as follows. Although such dual cartons may be provided with two pairs of lap flaps, which would not cause snagging problems, the flaps extending from the walls along which the cartons are joined must be positioned out of the way of the tax-stamper. Accordingly, such flaps may be positioned between the abutting long walls of the cartons, but must later be pulled from this position to seal the carton for distribution to consumers. Such an additional step would be time-consuming and expensive. Thus, tuck-in flaps would be preferable because when positioned along the exterior walls (the non-abutting walls) of the dual carton, they may be lapped over one another and opened by the tax-stamping machine without later additional steps. Furthermore, such flaps allow the consumer to reclose the carton. However, the tuck-in portion of the flaps causes both flaps to be longer than the length of the short lap flap of the typical ten-pack carton, thus causing the tuck-in portion adjacent the higher-positioned hold-down guide to be snagged.